History Final 2025

Totalitarianism

When 1 person / small group has total control over the country. People have little to no freedom.

Fascism

When 1 dictator controls everything and promotes extreme nationalism (country over individual rights)

Communism

when the government controls all businesses and owns all property. 1 dictator. Denies all rights.

Democracy

when everyone has the power to make decisions. Everyone has equal rights/ freedom

Militarism

the belief that a country should be ready to defend itself. Military has a big role in the government.

Purge

executing the enemy

Gulags

labor camps in the Soviet Union

Treaty of Versailles

agreement that ended WW1 in 1919. Blamed Germany for the war.

Nazism

belief that Germans were superior and discriminated against Jews

Axis Powers

Germany

Japan

Soviet Union (joined Allies in 1941)

Italy (joined Allies in 1943)

Munich Conference

meeting in 1938 where Germany, Britain, France, and Italy agreed to allow Germany to annex Sudetenland, Czech.

Appeasement

giving in to someone’s demands

President Hindenburg

chancellor of Germany before Hitler

Weimar Republic

democratic government of Germany from 1919-1933

Adolf Hitler

dictator of Germany from 1933-1945 and promoted Nazism

Reichstag

German parliament (people who make laws)

Benito Mussolini

First fascist dictator ever in Italy

Joseph Stalin

communist dictator of the Soviet Union

Emperor Hirohito

weak leader of Japan that inherited power

Five Year Plan

plan in the Soviet Union to transform the country into an industrial superpower.

The government merged and took over farms

Resulted in industrial growth but civilian suffering

Anti-Semitism

hatred towards Jews

Lebensraum

“living room” in German

Nazis believed they needed more land to grow their power

Blitzkrieg

“lightning war” attack by land using fast moving tanks

Allies

Originally Great Britain, France, and US

Neville Chamberlain

Prime Minister of Great Britain 1937-1940

Known for policy of appeasement towards Nazis

Winston Churchill

Prime minister of Great Britain all throughout WW2

Non-aggression pact

a treaty between 2 or more countries agreeing to not attack each other

Invasion of Poland

Germany invaded on September 1, 1939 and Allies declared war

Official start of WW2

Evacuation of Dunkirk

when 338,000 British and French troops were taken to England after Germany smashed through France

Vichy France

Remaining part of France that wasn’t under control. Worked with Germany/ Axis powers

French Resistance

Northern part of France invaded by Germany. Soldiers fought against Germans

Fall of France

French troops that stayed in France after evacuation of Dunkirk tried to stop Germans, but surrendered on June 22, 1940

Philippe Petain

Leader of Vichy France that worked with Axis Powers

Charles de Gualle

Leader of Free France that worked to stop Germans

Battle of Britain

Before invading Britain, Germany launched an air attack that only attacked British military forces

German Luftwaffe

the German air force

British Royal Air Force

British air force

The English Tube

an underground network used as a shelter during the Blitz

Manchuria

The Rape of Nanking

when Japanese soldiers captured China’s capital (Nanjing) and tortued and murdered 300,000 Chinese civillians

Gernal Hideki Tojo

Prime minister of Japan starting in 1941

Wanted to expand Japanese Empire

Isolationism

belief to keep the US out of all foreign issues

Neutrality Acts (3)

• America could not sell arms to any countries at war (1935)

• Illegal to provide loans to nations at war (1936)

• allowed “cash and carry” approach to buying and selling weapons (1939)

Cash and Carry Act

when countries had to send their own ships to pick up goods and they had to pay cash

America First Committee

supporters of isolationism and did not support US aid to Allies in the war

Lend-Lease Act

The nation receiving the weapons could use them and return them or pay for them after the war

Embargo on Japan

When the US blocked the sale of oil, iron, and steel to Japan

Pearl Harbor

On December 7, 1941, Japan’s air force attacked Hawaii because they needed resources that the US cut off from them

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoti

admiral of the Japanese navy

USS Arizona

A US Navy ship that was sunk during Pearl Harbor

September 1, 1939

Germany invaded Poland, marking the beginning of WW2

June 22, 1940

France surrendered to Germany

December 8, 1941

US declared war on Japan

December 11, 1941

Germany and Italy declared war on US

Selective Training and Service Act of 1940

First peacetime draft in American history

Mobilization

When a country prepares for war

Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps

women in clerical roles that were not recognized as being part of the army

Liberty Ship

cargo ships

Victory Garden

gardens planted by US citizens that increased food supply and the sale of war bonds

Rosie the Riveter

symbolized women in the workforce

War Bonds

loans that the U.S. government offered to its citizens to help fund the war effort.

War Production Board

were loans that the U.S. government offered to its citizens to help fund the war effort.

Nisei

Japanese people born in America (Japanese Americans)

Atlantic Charter

when Roosevelt and Churchill shared their ideas of the post-war world like democracy, non-aggression, free trade, economic advancement, and freedom of the seas

Carpet bombing

trying to destroy as much as possible with bombs

North African Campaign

Invasion of Italy

Casablanca Conference

Battle of Stalingrad

D-Day Invasion

Normandy, France

Operation Overlord

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Omaha Beach

Paratroopers

Battle of the Bulge

V-E Day

Yalta Conference

Philippines (Clark Field)

Bataan Death march

when prisoners of war w

Geneva Convention

Doolittle’s Raid

Battle of the Coral Sea

Battle of Midway

Battle of Guadacanal

Island-hopping

General Douglas MacArthur

Battle of Leyte Gulf

Battle of Iwo Gima

Battle of Okinawa

Manhattan Project

Office of Scientific Research & Development

Bomb on Hiroshima

Bomb on Nagasaki

President Harry Truman

Alternatives to the A-bomb

Tuskegee Airmen

Navajo Code Talkers

V-J Day

Holocaust